hollowworld.uk

Altera has a rich history that began out of character in 2011, and in character tens of thousands of years ago! In that time we have had mentions of there being millions of Alterans, megalithic cities, entire worlds full of elves (did you know that elves were aliens at one point?).

No longer! Almost everyone is dead! At least at the time of launch, the Sunken Lands are the last refuge of a dying people trying to eke out a living and survive. There are somewhere in the range of 1-10,000 surviving Alterans period, including NPCs.

This means that if you have a ship that requires 100 people to crew, like some of the old Napoleonic ships of the line we used to have, that no longer makes sense in universe as a functioning vessel. It would likely take more people to crew than could be found to use.

If you want a vast city, think of it on the scale of hundreds of people living inside it, or a vast megalopolis having perhaps one thousand.

If you have an army, your army might literally be in the low dozens of soldiers.

So, think smaller when you're talking in character, thinking of writing out lore for your stuff, and so on!